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Malinski

’The language of the novel is porcelain, eerie and crystal... each word an exact choice. At the heart of this novel are the great human themes: love, betrayal, hatred, blame, and memory. O’Donovan gets under the skin of her characters and they are sensitively and acutely portrayed.’ - Sunday Business Post

Two young brothers in Lvov, separated by war. Henryk, imprisoned by the Nazis with his mother in the family home, flees with her ahead of the advancing Soviets, eventually settling in Ireland. Stanislav takes refuge with an aunt in Kracow, where he lives out the decades of his life. Half a century later, after the fall of communism, Stanislav receives a letter: Henryk, who now styles himself Henry Foley, is coming for a visit.
Malinski is a novel of memory and loss, an exploration of the ways in which human beings invent themselves and imagine other people's lives. It is written with a concentrated grace that announces Siofra O'Donovan as a major new talent in Irish fiction.
'A well-crafted, intelligent story. There is much to admire in O'Donovan's novel: her treatment of memory and the tricks it can play give the story its shape; her writing is confident and her descriptions powerful, often beautiful. Malinski is a strong debut that marks O'Donovan as a writer to watch.' - The Irish Times